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Battle off Trondheim - 10 April 1940


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#1 Dave Franklin

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Posted 15 November 2018 - 11:59 AM

The 7th engagement in the Atlantic Campaign...

 

The Allies and Germans had both been planning operations in the Norwegian theater for some time.  As recently as 28 February 1940, Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) had been contemplating a brief raid into the North Sea/Norwegian Sea, but elected to scrub it so as not to affect ship availability for Operation Weserübung, the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway.  In Norway, the plan called for the capture of six primary targets by amphibious landings on 9 April 1940.  Trondheim was the target of Gruppe 2.  In preliminary planning, Gruppe 2 was built around the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, but her loss on 27 December 1939 necessitated a change.  Hipper was replaced with the pre-dreadnoughts Schleswig-Holstein, under the command of Kapitän zur See (KptzS) Gustav Kleikamp, and Schlesien, under the command of KptzS Günther Horstmann.  The destroyers Z2 Georg Thiele (Korvettenkapitän [KKpt] Wolff), Z3 Max Schulz (KKpt Trampedach), Z11 Bernd von Arnim (KKpt Rechel) and Z15 Erich Steinbrinck (KKpt Johannesson) rounded out the group, transporting elements of 3. Gebirgs-Division (3rd Mountain Division).

 

Gruppe 2 faced only minor resistance to their landings.  In Trondheim Fjord, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien engaged the defensive batteries while the destroyers sped past them at 25 knots.  11” shells severed the power cables for the searchlights and rendered the guns ineffective.  Only one destroyer received a hit during the landing.

 

Soon after the German landings became known, the Home Fleet reacted, choosing to focus on nearby Bergen.  RAF reconnaissance soon reported stronger opposition than anticipated, and this, along with the possibility the Germans might be controlling the shore defenses, caused them to recall the Bergen surface force and instead use the aircraft carrier HMS Furious to launch torpedo bombers at the enemy ships.  However, Luftwaffe bombers struck first, launching an assault of their own against the Home Fleet.  This attack sank the destroyer HMS Gurkha.  On 10 April, an air attack was made by Furious against Trondheim.  The ships of Gruppe 2 had just departed to return to Germany, and while the air strike failed to make contact, slowed by the sluggish top speed of the pre-dreadnoughts, Gruppe 2 ran afoul of some of the screen of ships that had set up watch outside of the port.  At 1630, under darkening skies, Gruppe 2 was steaming south at 16 knots, when they encountered a British destroyer division to the west.  The British destroyers, HMS Greyhound (Commander [Cdr] Walter Marshall-A'Deane), HMS Glowworm (Lt Cdr Gerard Roope), HMS Hero (Cdr Hilary Biggs) and HMS Hyperion (Cdr Hugh Nicolson) were patrolling on a southeast course at 16 knots.

 

Visibility was poor – only 10,000 yards – under darkening skies.  The Sea State was Force 5, with the wind at 20 knots from 240o, under two broken cloud layers (60%) at 7,000 and 8,000 feet.

 

The British were in line ahead, in the order listed above.  The Germans were also in a single column, the destroyers leading in ascending order, followed by Schleswig-Holstein and SchlesienKKpt Wolff had his zerstöreren increase speed and turn-in-succession slightly to starboard to cross the British ‘T’, while the two pre-dreadnoughts ponderously reached their maximum speed of 17 knots.  Upon sighting the Germans, Cdr Marshall-A'Deane realized he was outnumbered and outgunned.  He resolved to launch a torpedo attack on the German pre-dreadnoughts, and then disengage.  The British began a 10-point (225o) turn-in-succession to port to close the range slightly, while increasing speed to 26 knots, and HMS Greyhound made smoke to try to screen the rest of the division.

 

With the short initial range, this figured to be a short, vicious, fight, and in a portent of things to come, German gunnery, utilizing rapid fire from the outset, immediately scored.  Schleswig-Holstein’s 10.5cm secondary battery hit Hyperion, which was not covered by the smokescreen, jamming her rudder to starboard, while Erich Steinbrinck hit Greyhound, knocking out one of her torpedo mounts – to the exasperation of her captain.  The British failed to hit with their opening salvos.

 

At 1636, Hyperion quickly fixed her rudder jam, but the firing became quite furious as both sides had now worked up to flank speed.  Greyhound launched her remaining bank of torpedoes at Schlesien, then Erich Steinbrinck hit Greyhound again, causing a potentially disastrous engineering casualty.  Max Schulz hit Glowworm, knocking out her depth charges and starting a fire.  Georg Thiele hit Hero and Schlesien’s secondaries hit Hyperion, in each case destroying their searchlights and a torpedo mount (again to the exasperation of both their captains).  This time the British also scored, as Glowworm hit Georg Thiele with a potentially disastrous bulkhead hit. Greyhound hit Erich Steinbrinck and Hero hit Max Schulz, knocking out their ‘E’ (stern-most) 12.7cm turret and ‘B’ 12.7cm turrets, respectively.

 

1642 saw a flurry of successful repairs, as Greyhound fixed her engineering casualty, Glowworm put out her fire, and Georg Thiele repaired her bulkhead.  The British launched what torpedoes they had left, while the Germans missed their chance to launch with the British in a predictable course and position.  The British had now essentially reversed course, trying to draw away from the Germans, whose destroyers were crossing their ‘T’ astern.  The British failed to hit any of the German destroyers, concentrating more fire on the pre-dreadnoughts which were still abeam.  Greyhound hit Schleswig-Holstein, but the little 4.7” shells failed to penetrate the old ship’s armor, but Hyperion hit Schlesien, knocking out one of her 10.5cm secondaries.  At the same time, Max Schulz hit Glowworm and Schleswig-Holstein hit Hyperion, each causing hull damage while Georg Thiele mauled Hero with three hits: a torpedo mount (empty), a hull and a bulkhead.

 

By 1648, the two lead British DDs were disappearing into the gloom, but things looked grim for Hero and Hyperion, even though Hero repaired her bulkhead hit and the two German pre-dreadnoughts made a simultaneous 90o turn away to port to avoid the British torpedoes, which would take them out of the battle.  Hero and Hyperion were both too slowed by damage to escape the German DDs, especially when Hero took another parting hull hit from Schleswig-Holstein.  The torpedo salvo from Greyhound launched at 1636 failed to hit Schlesien, and as it turned out, the remaining torpedoes the British launched at 1642 all ended up out of range.

 

Hero and Hyperion were eventually overwhelmed by gunfire from the four German DDs.  Cdr Biggs ordering the crew of Hero to abandon ship at 1712.  Hero eventually sank at 1818 hours, with 36 of her crew of 146 being rescued.

 

Hyperion suffered what turned out to be an unrepairable engineering casualty at 1718, as well as a hit on her bridge that killed Cdr Nicolson.  At 1736 she took another engineering casualty that left her dead in the water.  Then Max Schulz and Bernd von Arnim each launched a spread of torpedoes from essentially point blank range.  Multiple hits sent Hyperion plunging to the bottom in minutes, with only 15 of her crew pulled from the freezing waters.

 

Damage to the German ships amounted to just a few hits, guns or hull, with only Erich Steinbrinck suffering multiple hits – losing both ‘C’ and ‘E’ 12.7cm (5”) turrets.  On the other hand, constant use of rapid fire saw the German DDs expend almost their entire supply of 5” ammunition, which could be a problem if they are engaged again before reaching a German port.

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#2 Levi the Ox

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Posted 16 November 2018 - 12:33 AM

Good reading!  Looking to do Norway myself at some point.



#3 W. Clark

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Posted 23 November 2018 - 12:41 AM

Way to command my ships, Dave. It went about as well as it could. Now, if we can just get clear and make it home without further contact I will be a very happy camper.






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